Question for the Guard

April 16th, 2012, 11:18 PM

Me and my son were talking and he was telling me.His friend in the marines (active duty) tried to get his pay delivered to his bank account and the Marine corp said NO! He wanted his mom to pay bills while he was away. My question is if my wife needs my dough to pay bills and this is true how can she if my account can only be accessed with me present? Does someone know if this is true or false. I would love to join but not leave her hanging financially. I also don't want to bother a recruiter with this q&a.

Your question could be worded a little clearer, and the Marine Corps story frankly seems a little fishy and anecdotal. Regardless, the only method of pay for all Soldiers is SURE PAY (Electronic Funds Transfer to financial institution). The Army’s purpose for SURE PAY is to improve personal and family financial management and is is "MANDATORY" IAW AR 37-104-4 1-6 (b). In rare circumstances a waiver for SURE-PAY may be granted by the soldier's commander when it is determined to be in the best interest of the individual and the Army, but this is very atypical. Therefore, as long as you have a joint bank account with your spouse, her having access to funds is a non-issue.

I do have another question for you however. You mentioned your son has a friend who is in the Marines. That begs the question of how old you are, and if you have had prior military service? I did the math, and it IS possible that your son is only 17, and you had him when you were 17 that you would maintain age eligibility for enlistment, but only barely.

Comment

I thought it sounded wrong ,but maybe they thought his mom wouldn't give him his money.Regardless I was wanting to join the guard I heard this and I was like "so,im getting paid and my wife, friends, family or what not can't pay my bills while away" that's dumb. But you guys answered the question.......